Marketing Home Products

In June 2007, K&A conducted research on the economic power women have acquired in recent years, focusing on how home and commercial building products’ companies had realigned their attention to female markets. During our research, we found that an increasing number of women control the family purse strings and make the major household purchase decisions. In fact, we concluded that women made more than 80 percent of all household buying decisions. As such, we deemed this female buying group the Chief Purchasing Officers, or CPOs, of the Home.

MediaPost recently took a closer look at this demographic, and its findings mirrored our former research. In an article titled “5 Ways to Engage Women (And Moms) Online,” women were found to be responsible for approximately 85 percent of all consumer purchases. Many were also found to be affluent. The “Marketing to Women Datafile” reported one in five women earned more than twice their significant other’s salary, and in 2005, Gallup reported that one quarter of U.S. women lived in a household earning more than $75,000 per year, as reported by MediaPost.

Our K&A research further found that when it comes to their purchasing habits, women are extremely internet-savvy and use the Web to frequently research product, service and brand information and to make both small- and large-scale household purchases. These women find the Internet to be extremely useful when researching or learning about new products, purchases they may be interested in making or for general information collecting.

Armed with this insight, it should come as no surprise that as marketers in the home and commercial building products channel, we must reach out to this influential female buying group . . . and we must do so online.

Below are a few online marketing strategies, as reported by MediaPost, which will aid in effectively marketing home products to today’s influential women.

1.  Acknowledge that many women are busy with multiple responsibilities.
In short, keep your Web site navigation intuitive and simple; create a clean and simple design.

2.  Appreciate that women are individuals.
Throw away the stereotypes and focus on individual needs, desires and customizable options.

3.  Benefit from the value women place on authenticity.
Women value authentic brands and look beyond products and services to a brand’s social responsibility, sustainability practices, and community support and charitable giving.

4.  Understand that affluent women often expect more.
Feature clean, organized and high-end design.

5.  Recognize that women appreciate visual design.
Put time, effort and money into your Web site. Women take in all of the details and look at Web sites as a critical representation of your company, products and services. Invest wisely.

To download a free copy of K&A’s CPO White Paper, click here. To view the complete MediaPost article click here.

In my previous post, I wrote about some basic rules of thumb when using Twitter, especially as a marketing strategy. Today, I’d like to include some of the specifics Twitter offers, like using hashtags and how search is essential for new business prospects.

Let’s start off with a couple more basics:

• Know your audience. According to a recent poll, 69 percent of adults don’t know what Twitter is. Making sure your target audience is aware of the site is a good first step. If they’re not, create a Twitter presence, but put your focus on other areas for the time being. Keep in mind, however, that Twitter is expected to grow to 1 billion users by 2013; you’ll want to have an established presence.
• Connect with your customers. Listen to what they’re saying and do your best to meet their needs. Just knowing someone is paying attention to what you’re saying speaks volumes. Just ask any Empire State Building employee who received ice cream from a company that listened to their tweets.

Twitter Tools:

• Connect, connect, connect. Have all profiles and Web pages link to each other. This keeps customers on your radar, clicking from one site to the next. If you have a blog, include an option for readers to share the post via Twitter. You can even include your Twitter username on business cards!
• Use search to your advantage. See what others are saying about your company as well as your competition.
• Get organized. If you’re busy and on-the-go, or if there are multiple people sharing one account, using a service like Co-Tweet or TweetLater can help organize your life. These programs make it easy to schedule tweets in advance and keep track of followers automatically.
• Track trending topics. Hashtags, if used appropriately, keep tabs on trending topics, events or news pieces by labeling them. When you put a hashtag (“#”) before a word, it will be grouped together with other posts in which that same word includes a hashtag. When searched, all posts including the word labeled in this way will show up together.
• Follow the leader. Follow Friday is a popular way to let others know who you’re following on Twitter. It’s a way of saying, ‘Hey, check this person out – they generate interesting posts!’ Simply add “#FollowFriday” before your post, and list the names of those Tweeple you hold in such high esteem.

For even more tips, see a great post on essential tools for a Twitter strategy.

What have you found are the most beneficial uses of Twitter? Comment below, or follow me on Twitter @stevekleber.

There are countless statistics out there about Twitter users: who’s more active, who the loudmouths are, who logs on once in a blue moon and who didn’t get past the first step of signing up.

As you might guess, those who are involved in conversations and sharing online get the most out of the site. Twitter is becoming an essential and invaluable tool for companies, making positive differences in ROI, customer satisfaction and new business leads everyday.

To optimize efforts put toward your company’s profile, take note of a few rules to live by on Twitter:

• Keep a consistent brand image. Maintain a profile picture and/or background that is consistent with your other online accounts such as your Web site, LinkedIn profile, Facebook page, etc. When your picture or logo is consistent, your brand is much more likely to stick out in people’s minds.
• Build relationships. Social media is not all about you. Twitter doesn’t exist for you to sell your product or gain customers. Sure, it can lead to that, but it really shouldn’t be your raw goal. A more appropriate and realistic goal would be to establish your company as a genuine, knowledgeable leader in your industry that is in tune with its customers.
• There’s always time for personality. It’s great to promote yourself or your company and the benefits both offer, but potential and current customers need to know there’s a human behind those posts. Remember, there’s a difference between giving a play-by-play of your shopping trip downtown and tweeting briefly about a cool new store or restaurant you came across. Including a Web site address, Twitter account or a photo is always a plus!
• Re-Tweet unto others as you would have them re-tweet to you. Make sure what you say is something others will want to repeat. In the same way, if someone else says something noteworthy, keep it circulating in Twitter world, and give the original author credit.

My next post will cover more tips and specific uses of Twitter tools – both within the site and through outside sources. Follow me @stevekleber.